The Spice Girls touched down in England to a lukewarm reception from fans - after only half of 500 contest winners bothered to turn up to a special London event.

The reformed fivesome - Geri Halliwell, Victoria Beckham, Melanie Brown, Melanie Chisholm and an injured Emma Bunton - made the appearance to launch Virgin Atlantic's new terminal at Heathrow Airport on Thursday, but were only greeted by a small gathering of supporters.

Around 500 fans who won a competition to see the Spice Girls at what was billed as a "secret location" were Heathrow-bound after meeting at a hotel in Hammersmith, but only 250 showed up at Terminal 3 to watch the girls alongside Virgin supremo Richard Branson.

Having flown from Los Angeles on the newly-christened Spice One Boeing 747 jet, the band further infuriated those in attendance by taking to the stage for only a brief chat - almost an hour after schedule.

An event source says, "We'd been working on this event for eight weeks - ensuring the health and safety for the large crowds was all up to standard. We had expected at least 500 fans - that was the amount who won the chance to see the Spice Girls - but less than half came on the day. These are supposed to be the band's die-hard fan base - and we struggled to fill the small closed-off area at the airport. It was a bit embarrassing. You would think the Spice Girls' homecoming would whip up more excitement... but evidently not."

On Monday, the band played to a half-capacity crowd in Las Vegas, despite claims the tour was "completely sold out."

-Spice Girls Pictures

(This news article provided by World Entertainment News Network)